India, Pak Foreign Ministers to meet in Colombo

Published: Monday, July 21, 2008, 20:06 [IST]

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New Delhi, Jul 21 (UNI) External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will have talks with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Colombo on the sidelines of the 15th SAARC Summit to be held on August 1-2.

This will be their third meeting during the past three months--the first was in Islamabad on May 21 and the second in New Delhi on June 27.

The Pakistan Foreign Minister also telephoned the External Affairs Minister yesterday to discuss the ''state of relations'' between the two countries, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said here today.

Mr Menon, who held talks with his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir here today to formally launch the fifth round of the Composite Dialogue Process (CDP), said during the telephonic conversation, the External Affairs Minister spoke about India's concerns.

''Both agreed to meet at the SAARC Summit in Colombo,'' the Foreign Secretary said.

Asked whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would also meet his Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of the Summit, the Foreign Secretary said that so far there was no schedule for any meeting between the two Prime Ministers.